On disc: Skinless

- Claudia Ehrhardt -

The American death grindcore band Skinless is around for more then a decade. Now they are back with a new album which is called From Sacrifice To Survival. Produced is the piece of extreme music by Neil Kernon who is known for his work with bands like Judas Priest and Nevermore and who's now doing more and more death metal / grindcore bands like Cannibal Corpse and Exhumed.
The album opens with The Front Line Of Sanity. It starts with the din of instruments and other sounds. An up-tempo track with great guitar riffing of Noah Carpenter and the deep growls / grunts of Sherwood Webber. As an element there are clean vocals used in the background while S. Webber growls. Breaks and tempi-changes make the song interesting, especially at the end when they slow down. Other songs like Deathwork are fast, even if there are different speeds, they never really slow down. They sound brutal, extreme. Full of aggression. Technically the four guys from New Yorker state are better then many grindcore bands. Unusual is the instrumental A False Sense Of Security which starts with a slow guitar, more like a rock act, but then after about a minute they got heavier, but still more like an 'ordinary' metal band. Also the following title track is in the beginning more power metal, but then they kinda explode and a well structured death metal song is coming over you.
Partly the band seems to be very extreme and totally into grindcore, but there are parts which are based on power metal, just heavy guitar riffing, pounding bass and hammering drums. Only the vocals of Sherwood Webber add a death metal edge. Perhaps Skinless are not extreme enough for death metal / grindcore fans. But on the other hand the deep growls are to extreme for 'normal' metal fans.